Wounded Warrior games reignite 'Marine spirit'

Pfc. Artem Lazukin, front, celebrates winning a gold medal with his team, Wounded Warrior Battalion West, during the Marine Corps Trials floor volleyball competition at Camp Pendleton. Lazukin lost both legs when he stepped on an improvised explosive device in Afghanistan in 2011. MINDY SCHAUER, ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER

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Pfc. Artem Lazukin uses his agility to return the ball during a floor volleyball game. His team, Wounded Warrior Battalion West, took first place. MINDY SCHAUER, ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER

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Staff Sgt. Anthony Rios' service dog, Bugsy, hangs out at the floor volleyball games at Camp Pendleton on Wednesday. MINDY SCHAUER, ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER

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Floor volleyball players on the Wounded Warrior Battalion West team celebrate their gold medal during the third annual Marine Corps Trials at Camp Pendleton on Wednesday. MINDY SCHAUER, ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER

Pfc. Artem Lazukin, front, celebrates winning a gold medal with his team, Wounded Warrior Battalion West, during the Marine Corps Trials floor volleyball competition at Camp Pendleton. Lazukin lost both legs when he stepped on an improvised explosive device in Afghanistan in 2011. MINDY SCHAUER, ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER

CAMP PENDLETON – In a split second, Pfc. Artem Lazukin used his left arm to heave his torso toward the ball and then just as quickly he hurled his arms up and spiked it back across the net, winning a point for the Wounded Warrior Battalion West.

Just minutes later, his team would secure gold in the floor volleyball finals Wednesday at the Paige Field House on the Marine Corps base.

"It's like eating a 10-pound bag of sugar," said Lazukin, a double amputee injured in Sanguin, Afghanistan, where he served as a rifleman point man with the 1st Battalion, 5th Marines. "The adrenaline, it's just insane."

Lazukin, 24, was among more than 250 wounded, ill and injured Marines who competed in the third annual Marine Corps Trials. At least 100 service members from Australia, Canada, France, Germany, the Netherlands, New Zealand and the United Kingdom also competed.

Athletes competed in four teams: Wounded Warrior Battalion East, Wounded Warrior Battalion West, International Military and Veterans. There were seven sports, and medals were awarded in each.

Fifty Marines from the trials will represent the Marines at the 2013 Warrior Games at the Olympic Training Center and the Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs, Colo., May 11-17.

"The focus is on ability not the disability," said Lt. Col Jim Fullwood, commanding officer of the Wounded Warrior Battalion West. "It's about reigniting the Marine Corps spirit. It gives them an opportunity to find that spirit and achieve something great."

Marines competing in the event ranged from amputees to those with cancer to those with post-traumatic stress disorder. Fullwood said at least 65 percent of the Marines now in the Wounded Warrior Battalion have some mental health issues.

"The care and awareness has improved over the last 10 years," he said. "In the last five years we've seen a surge of mental health providers."

Athletes arrived at Camp Pendleton about two weeks ago and trained for seven days with world-class coaches.

For Cpl. Kyle Reid, the dedication, hard work and training that week paid off hugely. Six medals hanging around his neck clanked together as he took the stage again during the swimming finals, collecting two more.

Reid, representing the Wounded Warrior West Battalion, led his team to gold in the final 200-meter freestyle relay. Reid suffers from PTSD and non-epileptic seizures following a deployment to Afghanistan with the Combat Logistics Battalion. He was responsible for moving the bodies of Marines from storage lockers to the landing zone.

After three months of doing that at least several times a week, Reid said, he began having hallucinations.

"I would see the bodies I had to carry and they'd talk to me, saying things like 'Why didn't you help me?'" he said. "It was more or less survivor's guilt all those didn't make it and I did."

Reid, originally from Chinook, Mont., said it took him nearly two years to seek help. When he began having hallucinations, he pushed them away by volunteering. Even if it was to sweep a hall or dig a hole, he'd go for it. He did all he could to keep his mind busy.

"I didn't want to be seen as the crazy guy," he said.

He still has seizures and hallucinations. But the new friends he's made in the Wounded Warrior Battalion West give him support. Everyone deals with anxiety, stress and some sort of disability but they learn to manage and cope with it, he said.

For Reid the physical effects of working out have been his greatest salvation, he said.

After the final relay, Cpl. Ray Hennagir, who lost both legs and the fingers of his left hand when he stepped on an improvised explosive device in Afghanistan, floated on his back in the Olympic-size pool.

"It's amazing; I love it," the 26-year-old retired combat engineer said about being in the water. "It's freedom. Everyone is equal. I can do everything everyone else can."

He competed for the Veterans in the 50-meter, the 100-meter and the 200-meter relay. Hennagir, who has a tattoo denoting "no wheelchair" on his left forearm, said he felt sorry for himself for only 15 minutes after he was told of his injuries on a plane flight from Afghanistan to Germany.

"I didn't let it faze me," he said. "I thought, I need to take this opportunity to do something else. Now I do this."

Caleb Gaffield, 12, watched with awe as Marines and international service members took the podium for the medals. He presented a gold medal to a triple amputee.

His father, a reconnaissance Marine, returned from a deployment to Afghanistan in September. He'll deploy again next year.

"They didn't give up," Caleb said, looking at the Marines and their medals. "To me their injuries just look like a challenge. They stuck to their dream and here they are now."

Caleb said he sometimes worries about his father during deployments but wants to become a Marine himself.

"It'll be good for my family and my country," he said. "I'll be able to help my mom pay for the house and I'll be one more person closer to stopping the war."

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